Carthage

Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, in what is now Tunisia. It was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classical world. It became the capital city of the civilization of Ancient Carthage and later Roman Carthage.

The city developed from a Phoenician colony into the capital of a Punic empire which dominated large parts of the Southwest Mediterranean during the first millennium BC.

The Carthaginian republic was one of the longest-lived and largest states in the ancient Mediterranean. It fought several wars with Syracuse and finally, Rome, which eventually resulted in the defeat and destruction of Carthage in the Third Punic War.

The Carthaginians were Phoenician settlers who had originated from Lebanon . They spoke Canaanite, a Semitic language and travelled widely across the seas and set up numerous colonies. They were great traders especially if sought after metal. As Carthage prospered at home, it sent colonists abroad as well as magistrates to rule the colonies.

The ancient city was destroyed in the nearly three year siege of Carthage by the Roman Republic during the Third Punic War in 146 BC. It was re-developed a century later as Roman Carthage, which became the major city of the Roman Empire in the province of Africa.

Greek cities contested with Carthage for the Western Mediterranean culminating in the Sicilian Wars and the Pyrrhic War over Sicily, before the Punic Wars with Rome.

The fall of Carthage came at the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC at the Battle of Carthage.[77] Despite initial devastating Roman naval losses and Hannibal’s 15-year occupation of much of Roman Italy, who was on the brink of defeat but managed to recover, the end of the series of wars resulted in the end of Carthaginian power and the complete destruction of the city .

The Romans pulled the Phoenician warships out into the harbor and burned them before the city, and went from house to house, capturing and enslaving the people. About 50,000 Carthaginians were sold into slavery. The city was set ablaze and razed to the ground, leaving only ruins and rubble.

After the fall of Carthage, Rome annexed the majority of the Carthaginian colonies.Today a “Carthaginian peace” can refer to any brutal peace treaty demanding total subjugation of the defeated side.

Destination: North Africa and Middle East, Italy, Spain, France, Greece